The number of South Korean patents has risen sharply in the past four years, but the overall quality of the patents has declined, a government report showed Sunday.

According to the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning and the Korea Institute of S&T Evaluation and Planning (KISTEP), the number of patents registered in the country reached 14,151 in 2013, up 207 percent from 4,599 in 2009.

The number of overseas patents secured by locals stood at 1,270 last year, up from 675 tallied four years earlier.

On the other hand, patents classified as "A-type," which have the most impact and influence, made up just 19.7 percent of the total, down from 24.2 percent in 2009, the report showed.

Among the top-rated patents, the proportion of those secured with state-funded research and development (R&D) dropped 5.6 percentage points to 13.3 percent from 18.9 percent during the period. 

"There has been an increase in patents in the country, but there are growing concerns that many are solely to show that a researcher has enlarged his or her field of expertise," a ministry official said. Such patents can help research get more points during evaluation, yet may not be all that meaningful.

The official noted that the number of patents won by state-run research institutes trails far behind that of private companies and universities.

On the positive side, despite fewer patents being classified as having a great impact, the total number of research papers that has reached science citation index (SCI) standards totaled 27,052, up

11.9 percent from 24,174 papers reported in 2009. SCI is usually cited as a barometer for the quality of research papers.

The number of times South Korean research papers were cited in publications and journals also rose 39.6 percent to 14,316 last year, from 10,250 from four years earlier.

The latest report, which analyzes the country's R&D achievements in the 2009-2013 period, added that the number of state-funded R&D projects that have actually been used by companies surged 85.3 percent to 15,315 cases last year from 8,262 in 2009. (Yonhap)